450 businesses operating in the old city. now there are just 50. the old said he's always been the heart of nazareth now a growing group of residence wants to get it beating again. it will come back because city still have very much. oh, i the secretary of state is russia to choose the path of peace as the arise and ukraine directed to use tensions with moscow. ah, hello rob and what you know, they were like my headquarters hearing the whole. so coming up a syrian dr. keys of torturing and killing prisoners during the war goes on trial in germany. you will stop it too long. probably good. you have done in the name of god. yeah. so loud of all the british prime minister to resign after more

revelations of parties during the height of the cave at 19 locked and say it was christ and toner, navy ships rushed to deliver supplies to the islands, devastated by volcanic eruption and soon ami. aah! broke into the problem. russia could invade ukraine at the very short notice. that's the warning from the us secretary of state who's in the ukrainian capital, came to reaffirm washington's commitment. anthony blink met ukraine's president law to me as the landscape and can renewed cold for the kremlin to choose diplomacy over confrontation. the visit comes to washington confirms another $200000000.00 in military aid for ukraine. bhaskar says the us shouldn't supply ukraine with weapons arguing that's a threat to its security. russia sent troops to the ukranian border,

raising fears of an invasion. russia invaded territory in crimea, ginned up a conflict on eastern ukraine and it systematically sought to undermine and divide ukraine's democracy. today, there are some 100000 russian soldiers near ukraine borders. and in that sense, the threat to your friends is unprecedented. so the president asked me to underscore once again, our commitment to ukraine start or integrity to sovereignty, to its independence. and i know that's a message that you've heard, not just from us, but from so many partners throughout europe. well, we have to correspondence following these told ross and jordan is in washington dc . we'll be speaking to her in a moment. first, let's go over to dos jabari who's in moscow and also the russians about time ready to hear what mr. lincoln had to say publicly to his ukranian host,

but towers mosca now reacting to those various accusations, well, they maintain their position there. having counter accusations against the united states government, we've been hearing from the russian deputy foreign minister, circ, a rip, cough who has been speaking of schedules events earlier on wednesday. and he said that the supplies that are heading to, in terms of financial supplies, from the u. s. government, as well as military aid from the british government or not are just as much a threat to russia as anything else. and that pressure from the united states will not force this country to change their troop movements within their own boundaries within their own borders. and that there was no way russia could tolerate the ukraine or georgia joining nato. and that's very much so a red line for this country that deputy foreign minister also said that any kind of

a temporary freeze on ukraine in georgia. joining the alliance is also unacceptable, and that russia will do everything in his power to prevent ukraine from joining nato. and we also heard from the spokesperson the kremlin, dmitri prescott, who sat, that's in the upcoming meeting on friday, is extremely important to this country. and that the agenda has already been set for the russian foreign minister survey law will be meeting his american counterpart in geneva on friday. and they are expecting concrete answers, written responses to rushes, demands from nato and the u. s. in terms of security assurances that nato will not further expand eastward something that this country finds unacceptable and will not tolerate dosage of our most k thanks very much less because they went to washington dc. rosalind jordan is standing by force and roles when he reassuring was from mr. lincoln to president lensky. but there was

a warning way to focus on the big picture in the region and not focus on the domestic woes that president lensky is experiencing right now. that's right, and we just got a read out from the state department indicating that the focus of the meeting between the secretary of state antony blanket and vladimir zalinski. the ukranian president was on trying to do everything possible to diffuse tensions with russia, underscoring of the u. s is support for ukraine sovereignty and indicating that tell us would be providing more military assistance if required. now this is a situation where of course, a mr. zalinski is having to deal with the former president of a patch report jenko, who is back in cave to answer charges of treason and the o. u. s. very much wants the situation with mr. por shanker. essentially

a slow rolled so that mr. zalinski his efforts and energy can be focused on trying to avoid an invasion of his country. was a jordan in washington, d. c. thanks very much. now, a caught in germany has begun hearing a case against a syrian dr. accused of crimes against humanity and associating counts of torturing detainees and homes and damascus between 20112012 is also accused of killing one person charges. the doctor denies. donna kane has morphin berlin. so what happened today in court was that the charges were read outs to the lawyers to the defendant and to those gathered in the courtroom and the defendant. this doctor from syria who's been in germany for since 2015. he did not

directly enter a plea in wednesday's deliberations. instead, he spoke to the judges and to those gathered in court about the course of his life while he was in syria. and what he has been doing here in germany since coming here in 2015. now the detail of the accusations against this individual, or some of the evidence that we will be hearing in the course of the trial, is particularly harrowing, where individuals describe what was done to them, what they allege was done to them. the significance of this trial. well this is the he is the 3rd person from syria to go on trial in germany, accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity carried out in the, during the cit, the syrian civil war, these a legit offenses took place at the start of it from 201120122 separate institutions, one in homes, one in damascus, that's the allegation. now, court officials suggest that this case, this case, may,

will take several months to, to go through the different stages from today, which is the start of the trial to a potential verdict at some point towards the end of march. clearly the presumption of innocence applies here until and unless a guilty verdict or a guilty plea were to be entered into court. neither of those has happened yet, and the case continues a 2nd here where the foreign minister of ukraine is now speaking to his merican count. but let's just listening work. are you working with dish or out or are you going to be the year names? the dog you sure. one moment hold on them. we're not sure put it would have wouldn't you? but yeah, it seems that we have translation now at the moment from the ukrainian,

the foreign minister dimitra could about a now of course, anti bullying came to reassure the ukrainian youth that he has the back. and that has a special message as well from the president biden, to also say that we will continue our conversations with the russians until we can get to geneva to speak again to the foreign minister said a lot on friday. the americans have also announced along with britain that they will support ukraine with at least $200000000.00 of extra military funding. now this funding was also agreed back in december, but it seems to be the same amount of money that was already agreed to support ukraine in that defense. and of course, not very money, very military that the americans are proposing is one of the red lines that moscow is saying you get kind of tolerate. and it certainly one of the issues that russia is saying has to be withdrawn because it poses a threat to its security. of course,

we will come back to that press conference as we get more information out of it in english to stay with us. let's just move on to the palestinian issue and a palestinian family living in occupied east. jerusalem has lost the fight to stop his re the police, demolishing their home. but the family of 15 had threatened to blow the property or force from the shake general neighbourhood. hundreds of other palestinians are also face eviction despite protest by activists and international criticism of his ready policy out there with how he force it has more from the demolition site. was around 3 o'clock in the morning on a very cold and rainy morning. here by the system that about a 100 is ready security forces moved in to the property, they cut off at a tricity, they cordoned off the area. they arrested some 18 to 25 people, some of them members of the family, some of them activists who, being supporting them. and they then proceeded finally to demolish the home on this

line. now as far as he is ready, municipality and police are concerned to issued a joint statement about this, they say that this is land that was appropriated long ago has been destined to be made into a school, a special lead school for children in the area. and they say that the family did not have a legal right to be that. however, as far as western diplomats have been protesting, this activists and thomas city is more generally a concern. this is not a question of israeli lords, question of international law. this being occupied land, and therefore such action is illegal and comes in the context of a wide, a systemic attempt to make it more more difficult for palestinians in ocoee bodies choose going to jude eyes. this part of the city so slightly less clear cut than some of the issues that have made check your are such a flash point in recent months, but nonetheless, attracting protests. and we have to wait and see what the reaction will be. robin's prime minister has again told parliament he won't be resigning over the circled

party gate scandal, or johnson faced the barrel of ridicule and demand. to stop telling life is every one to wait for the outcome of mcquarry into the parties at downing street during crow virus lockdown. i think, i think as i said to the highest 3 i, i apologize sincerely for any judgments that were made. but he must contain impatience. let the speaker and wait for the inquiry in a week before he wrote any of the conclusion that he dr. hobart enjoys me from london. paul, you've been monitoring that whole conversation in parliament this afternoon. the prime minister, very much on the defensive, very much on the defense of i have to say the performance he put in at that weekly session of prime minister's questions in the house of commons was at least more animated and more on the front foot than he was on tuesday when he looked very contrite, almost shall shot in an extended interview that he gave up to one british journalist

way. i mean, he just looks broken. but in front of his own, m. p. 's and under intense pressure, he did at least give answers to the questions that were put in front of him, or that said, it was a very, to use cricketing terms. straight bat that he played a very defensive, insisting that he had to wait for the outcome of this su gray report into exactly what went on in the building behind me. in those last 2 years during lock dance and the su gray report, i could come as early as the end of this week, perhaps the started next week or and as far as the question of his own leadership, there was a real bombshell from one of the tory grandees, david davis, a former conservative leadership candidate from 2005, closing a the you. amory in the 1940 norway debate saying look, you've spent, you've sat there too long for all the good you've done in the name of god. go now

has been a lot of talk about the new 2019 intake of conservative m. p 's. these newbies who have been very disillusioned with way virus. johnston has gone about the business of government, the last sort of 4 months. but this is a, a tory grande, somebody who's been in the party for a very long time, a former leadership candidate himself and for him to come out so publicly and so embarrassingly, in an, in the house of commons and say this directly to the premises face a real slap of call the authority of boris johnson. indeed it in not just me as a, from his own, a benches and back benches. but also, as he from the opposition benches to they've all been really trying to focus down on what happened at downing street. but for a, in his defense the, the prime minister and his colleagues and cabinet have been sort of using a bit of smoke and mirrors. by talking about cov, it mandates and trying to distract from their own woes. haven't they? what, with what have they been saying about those cove? it mandates. well, i give you some contacts, you know, the, the operation as it's been described to try to save at boris johnson's premier shift

as involves some code names such as operation red meat that is throw some red meats in front of the walls. and i hope that they'll eat that red meat rather than eat porous johnson, but i'm afraid the wolves are circling, and i'm one of the announcement that came directly after the session of prime minister questions was boris johnson. standing at the dispatch box saying that to what we've had, the restrictions that we've had here in the u. k. or in england, specifically, plan b restrictions are recommending mask wearing an enclosed spaces. the guidance recommendation to work from home if you possibly can. and vaccine passports as well, that's all gonna be lifted. so the hope by the government is that that will take some of the attention away, at least some of the attention away from the pressure that the prime minister is under. at the moment it remains to be seen. whether that kind of policy, that kind of strategy is successful. fullborne in london, thanks very much for the uptake late sir. take you back to ukraine and tooth one here where it's foreign minister to meet through could about it is talking with

antony blinking. let's just listen, we are working only exclusively on strengthening our defense, and in that regard, the united states, our number one is our number one. it parser, as used as they say, all is well, that ends well. and if it doesn't end, well, that means it's not the ent yet, and we make sure that everything works well. and thanks to the partnership with united states, we will achieve our goal. thank you, tony. you for mr. global metro. thank you. oh, thank you. as always for your remarkable hospitality. thank you as well for the very good exchange that we had as well as the very positive consultations with the, with present lensky a little bit earlier. let me just begin by why i'm here and keith today. first and foremost, it is to reaffirm the united states unwavering support for ukraine at

a time when it's security, it's prosperity, this democracy, it's fundamental right to exist as a sovereign independent nation are facing an unprecedented challenge from russia. the euphrates people are no strangers to conflict since ukrainian strict of the might on 8 years ago to defend their choice for democratic and european future. russia used every strategy in its play book to try to undermine the will of ukrainian. people, says 2014 moscow manufacturer, a crisis and invaded ukraine's territory in crimea, which it occupies to this day. moscow orchestrated a war in eastern drain, which continues to fuel using proxy forces that it leads trains, eclipse finances. moscow has systematically sought to weaken ukraine's democratic institutions, as well as to divide ukrainian society using everything from election interference

to this information to cyber attacks. and russia is also attempted to destabilize the economic and financial situation in ukraine, and we are working together to mitigate those efforts as we meet today. russia has ratcheted up it's threats, and i'm asked nearly a 100000 and forces on ukraine's border. which could double. i'm relatively short order. we know the ukranian people know that moscow's aggression to this point has killed more than 14000 ukranian men, women and children, and driven more than 1400000 ukrainians from their home. the human toll of gression would be many magnitude higher if it were to be renewed. that's why president biden asked me to come here to underscore our steadfast

commitment ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity. and it's why we will continue our relentless diplomatic efforts to prevent renewed aggression and to promote dialogue and peace. at the same time, we continued to bolster ukraine's ability to defend itself and make clear the costs of the united states and europe. will impose on that scout if it rejects the diplomatic path that we've laid out and proceeds with an unwarranted unprovoked, unacceptable invasion or destabilization of ukraine for years, we've invested in the ukraine's economic growth energy security infrastructure. civil society rule of law and defense were continuing to provide that support including defensive security assistance. this support has strong bipartisan backing in the united states. that was evident in the senate delegation that was here just yesterday, as well as the house delegation that came in december. it's the message that the

united states congress sent in december by extending the ukraine security assistance initiative through 2022 and increasing its funding to 300000000 dollars . second, i came to keep to speak in person with the president, my friend, the metro, other senior training government leaders about the intensive week of diplomacy that we just engaged in with russia, both through the bilateral chief stability dialogue through the nato, russia, council, and of the o s c. and now to consult and coordinate on the next steps forward. we have the meetings that i describe immediately before those engagements that nato foreign ministers meant to pursue our coordinated response to moscow's military buildup and the new ukraine commission. and that as well across all of these diplomatic engagements. we've been firm in our principals and clear about the areas

where we can make progress. one of the principles which you've heard us repeating, but it always bears repeating, is nothing about ukraine without your brain. the same is true for the trajectory of europe as a whole, nothing about europe and its security without euro. that's been our message in public. it's been our message in private work is we've consistently practiced what we preach in recent weeks along we've conducted more than a 100 diplomatic consultations, including what you've trained with nato, with the european union, with the ofc, bucharest, 9 various members, space of these organizations to ensure that were aligned and speaking clearly with one voice throughout, we'd have made clear our strong preference for a diplomatic fat, deescalate conflict with russia. that is the responsible force. and it's also why i'm heading to berlin after this, to consult with several of our closest european partners,

and as well meet with foreign minister leverage russia federation engine eva on friday. the objectives of that meeting were one of the key topics that presidents lensky, foreign minister, collab, and i discussed earlier today. and as we consistently done, we will brief. are you planning partners shortly after the meeting in geneva as well, and discuss next steps? the world is watching. what's happening here? when russia uses his strength back with impunity against another sovereign nation, it makes other countries think that they too, can violate the rules of international peace and security and put their now interests ahead of the shared interests of the international community. 3rd or the strength of our diplomacy, or de terrence, and any response to moscow's aggression, demands unity among allies and partners, as well as with a new frame. that's a point,

underscored today in the meetings with president lensky and with the foreign minister. ukrainians have to stick together, especially at this time president zalinski continues to advance important reform efforts, including recently judicial reform. despite the external challenges, pressure that is facing to that end, i would urge the sap post election commission to complete the last step of their work without delay and finalize their selection. now, as we know, one of moscow's longstanding goals has been to try to so divisions within you break to make it harder for you pennies to work together to realize their euro democratic ambitions. to claim that democracy is a recipe for polarization. and this function, ukraine has to avoid any actions that help russia, the cynical effort. don't let moscow divide. that means that leaders inside, outside ukraine's government have to put aside their differences in favor of the

shared national interest and worked together to prepare for what could be difficult days. but in doing, in the united states wants you to know this. as you stand up to efforts to divide, to intimidate, to threaten the united states, stands with you resolutely in your right to make decisions for your own future to shape that future as ukrainians for you. great, thank you. okay, good summer. first question. we'll go to will maldonado, walter journal place that shows up. thank you so much for secretary blake and i wanted to ask you about any new types of assistance you may have discussed providing to ukraine. did you discuss a potentially offensive weapons or air defenses? for contingency plans for russia does cross the border or the possibility of the us,

we transfer licenses of weapons that it has to apply to other countries to ukraine . and then i just following up on that, is there a reason why the buy to ministration a year on has it's nominated, an ambassador to ukraine for mr. to leave? a similar question i wanted to ask you if there's anything that the us or europe that you would like for them to help you with, whether it's native full, showing more flexibility in working with russia. whether it's defense items or any of the things that i mentioned with secretary of lincoln. thank you will. thanks very much with regard to a security system. so a few things i think is, you know, we have been providing a sense of assistance to ukraine consistently, including deliveries that taking place in just the last few weeks alone. i'm not going to get every detail of that assistance,

but the point is this. we have given more security assistance to ukraine in the last year than wants to slide 14. and as they say, we're doing that on a sustained basis. the deliveries are ongoing again as recently as the last few weeks and more are scheduled in the coming weeks. should russia carry through with any aggressive intent and renew its aggression and invade ukraine will provide additional material beyond that, that is already in the pipeline. and that will further aid in defending ukraine with regard to an investor, 2 things. first, we benefit as it is from a remarkable charge, a leading our efforts here on a terrific team with the embassy. i was just over there this morning meeting with the senior leadership team of the embassy. and that meeting is, you know, with virtually the entire staff of the embassy. they're virtually are in person. oh,

i can tell you that when an investor is nominated, that person will have the full r conference of the, the president united states. that person will be someone ah, that is well known to me. ah, and with whom i have a close relationship. and that person will have a very demonstrable expertise knowledge in this region. and i would anticipate that a nomination will be forthcoming very shortly on sunday blink in the u. s. secretary of state. that speaking cab alongside has ukrainian counterpart, dmitri calabria, of course, reiterating the u. s. to support for ukraine, a during this crisis of uh, security ways that russian troops amassed on the border. of course, he will be heading to berlin in a few hours time to speak with european partners as he described. and then on friday, speaking again, face to face with rush, his russian counterpart, a 2nd law for off the foreign minister for russia. cool. so reassuring ukraine here

that they have the u. s. is full supported is very simple, strong ukraine. until the news now you and says it stepping up its response to the volcanic eruption in synonymy in tongue. the government is described in tandem precedent to disaster australia and new zealand, sending aid by boat because tongue has main runway has been covered in ash. wayne hay has more from oakland. help is on its way to tongue up to new zealand navy ships carrying supplies have begun a 3 day journey which should see them arrive on friday. perhaps the most essential cargo will be fresh water and a dissemination plot to make more while the ships of their we're hitting their way now. with a whole lot of water, the ship can hold. currently holds over 250000 liters of water and will be able to provide that once we arrive. and then every day thereafter, we are going to be producing another 70000 liters of water. satellite images show

a thick layer of ash on the runway of tongue. his main airport on the left is how it looked before the russian. the ash is delaying deliveries of international 8 flights volunteers, which is cleaning up the runway and the stains before the end of the week, that might well be completed and there will be an opportunity for a craft to lean slightly. but we won't know the full extent of that outcome until the run might create a proper assessment. i can be taken. communicating with tanya is difficult. there's no internet and limited phone calls, because the soon army severed the fiber optic cable connecting the country to the rest of the world. the telecoms operator says it will be at least 4 weeks before the connection is restored. prime minister, see all see saline released his 1st official statements confirming what many feared the eruption caused an unprecedented disaster with the volcanic mushroom plume

covering all of tongue is 170 islands. the red cross is to make that up to 80000 common may be effective. the devastation is why we're and i mean, it was one of the most catastrophic, bulky next your actions. in decades, the tone in government has given approval for the new zealand navy ships to arrive in its waters, but the aid carrying must be delivered contactless. tanya has had just one case of coven 19 since the pandemic begin, while it desperately needs help. it doesn't want to risk an outbreak. now. wayne, hey, al jazeera oakland. ah, your desert with me said raman in doha. reminder of our top stories, the u. s. secretary at state has warned that russia could attack ukraine at very short notice until he blinkin is in care of where he's met with the ukrainian.